I’ve talked to a lot of people and received many emails from subscribers here at Gain Higher Ground who say things like, “I’ve been looking at starting my own business for a while but haven’t found the right idea yet.”
I can totally relate to this situation as I was in exactly this position myself in early 2010.
I subscribed to lots of different websites that talked about startups, new emerging business trends and different ways to make money. My aim was to try and seek out that one idea which was best suited for me.
Basically, I was in “business opportunity seeker” mode.
There is nothing wrong with this and in fact – looking back I think it actually did me a lot of good. However it’s crucial not to stay in this state for too long!
And guess what, some people stay in it for years!
The truth is that there are loads of GREAT ideas that make money and there isn’t a perfect one for you. It’s just important to pick one and stick with it (rather than give up after 3 weeks as unfortunately so many people do).
But which idea do you choose?
My recommendation to you is exactly what I chose to do myself: Focus on selling information products (e.g., eBooks, video courses, audios etc) online.
Why?
Because:
1. The start up costs are EXTREMELY low
No 6 month lease on business premises, no employee costs, no loans required to invest in stock. Just a few dollars for a domain, hosting and (if you can) ONE high quality training course to show you the correct roadmap.
2. You’ve got a global audience from day one
To expand your empire you don’t need to open new stores or factories in different parts of the World. Anyone can purchase products from you regardless of where they are located.
3. Lifestyle
This is the thing I value the most. I don’t have to turn up every morning to open the shop and serve the customers. Instead I can travel, make my own hours and I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission (except my own!) for time off. Although this business does take work (contrary to some of the promotions you see around the internet), I’ve still generated thousands of dollars while sleeping, taking holidays and spending time with friends and family.
4. BIG Profit Margins!
By selling digital information products rather than physical products the profit margins are extremely high. It costs you nothing (or very little) to sell an extra eBook for example and you don’t need to order it from a supplier or ship it via snail mail.
If you feel that you’ve been in business opportunity seeker mode for too long then don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there (me included like I said).
However, it is time to take action and concentrate on ONE model of doing business.
This is what shifting from opportunity seeker to entrepreneur is all about.
The road ahead can seem daunting at times but again if you break it down into small chunks (a little like we talked about in this recent training) then you really CAN DO IT!
Can you relate to the “business opportunity seeker” mindset? Please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts and we can start discussing… 🙂
Hi Rob
Your lesson are superb I enjoy reading several times . Excellent web am recommending my friend to join in as well . By the way Rob I do not live too far from you mat be 2 miles from you I would an opportunity to meet you in person . Do let me know if you have some free time . Many thanks .
Thank you Jimmy – nice to see you here on the blog and it’s great you’ve been getting value from my content 🙂
I’d love to meet you in person. I’m pretty flat out for the next week or so but you could send me a message via the contact form on this site and we’ll fix something up.
Cheers, Rob.
Hi Rob
Opportunity seeking is the next step from information overload. If I have learnt one thing, it is to ignore marketers who tell me ‘not to get into that niche there is too much competition’.
Competition means customers, customers who have not yet found answers to their questions.
Dee
Dee – Great point, they definitely are very closely related.
Competition is a strange concept online. Sometimes it’s “bad” on the surface (e.g., if you’re looking for search engine rankings) and other times it is good because like you say there are more customers plus marketers to work with to get your product out there in the marketplace. Can be confusing at first and really needs a blog post or something dedicated to it to lay it out clearly!
– Rob
Hey Rob; I appreciate the article here. I’m not gonna make excuses,I am ready to go from seeker to doer,tho my budget is still kind of iffy. I,agree,Information brokering is the way to go. So many folks need info,and don’t know where,or how to get it. I’m glad you mentioned,the difficulties in getting a business going. Info overload,affects everyone,and we all need to pick a course of action,and follow through. Thanks again for all your help.
Hey Rusty,
No excuses required! We’ve all been there for sure.
One of the great things about doing business online is that you can substitute time for money. So if you have a low budget then pretty much it’s possible to get success by spending some extra time to do things yourself rather than outsourcing tasks. The main exceptions to this are domain purchase costs (<$10), hosting ($10/month) and an email list management service (Aweber $19/month or you could even use MailChimp which is free to get started). All businesses require some form of investment but I honest can't think of anything cheaper!
Appreciate your thoughts 🙂
Rob.
Rob, great info but back to the old bogey —TRAFFIC ,Brian.
I hear you Brian, traffic is something I struggled with a lot when starting out.
Some suggestions:
1) Have you tried targeted guest posting?
2) We cover some great traffic strategies on Kick-Start Profits (sign up at the to right of this page if you haven’t already)
3) If you head over to my Facebook Page there is a free traffic and list building course you can pick up.
Only brief I know – but thanks for your feedback I’ll keep this in mind for future blog posts.
Rob.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for another golden piece of information. I can totally relate to this as I first started my learning 3years ago and im only now taking action. Its been like doing another degree but worth it as i have learned about all the good, the bad & the ugly side of internet marketing so have a great idea of what works and what doesnt. Im glad to say that i dont get sucked into the silky sales letters anymore either!
Remarkably although I have learned good stuff regarding SEO, traffic, domaining etc, I found myself going back to basics and starting niche blogging from the top and applying what i learned (the advance stuff will follow). i think this is the best way to beat info overload would you agree?
Believe it or not i also empoyed as a PPC account manager but I have no desire to spend more years making someone else wealthy!!
Keep up the good work Rob!
Best regards,
Lo
Hi Lo,
Great to see you here on the blog! 🙂
I think that is a good approach to getting over the info overload problem. As is not “falling” for those hypey sales letters/videos. Good news – it looks like you’re making it through the other side.
There other things I’ve learnt are to keep it simple. It’s so easy to get caught up in tweeking websites, wondering which software you should use, playing around (but not really push hard) with lots of traffic strategies. I still catch myself going off at tangents all the time and having to drag myself back on course! But the book I mentioned a few weeks ago (see here) helped me a lot in this regard.
– Rob.
I encore Brian – I have loads of products, zilch traffic.
(Love your style , Rob)
Hi Colin,
Unfortunately, this is a common thing. Got to build that list first and then you control the traffic. Most people who see this blog post will do so because I emailed them and let them know I put it up.
Check out my reply to Brian above. But we’ll have to cover traffic in more depth in the future 🙂
Cheers – Rob.
Hi Rob
Unfortunately I think that I was stuck in “opporunity seeker mode” for several years. I joined so many different opportunities of “programmes” as they tend to get called.
I am still working some opportunities that make me a little money (and it is just a little) but I am definitely ready to take this all to another level.
Thanks for all your advice and info Rob – no fluff and all 100% content is (or has been in the past at least) hard to find.
I think a lot of the so called “gurus” are having to look to their laurels because buying habits on the internet have changed and people are no longer blindly buying into the latest “big thing”
Apart from the obvious economic problems these days; I simply think that internet enteprenuers have got a lott more “savvy” and a lot more careful of what they buy into, and that can only be a good thing for folks wanting to develop a real, long term, business strategy.
Cheers
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Good to hear from you on this.
It sounds like all your experience is about to lead you on to something very exciting.
I think you are touch on some issues there that are very timely. The whole internet marketing scene is changing. I agree people are becoming more savvy and I personally believe that there’s a gap in the market for “real”. Surely, that’s all people want anyway? Stuff that actually works. It’s a business and any business does involve an investment of time, energy and money.
It’s exciting stuff and it’ll be very interesting to see what happens going forward into 2012!
Cheers! Rob.
P.S. the free content will continue for sure here at GHG (really glad you’ve been enjoying it!) but I’m also working on some “premium” (read: paid) content too so expect to see that in the near future! 😉
Dear Rob…
I must be the world record holder for business opportunity seeking…
procrastination….and failure… phew…
I just keep getting it in my head that something will not work whenever i look into it..
this is years of bussiness opp buying…and realising that i have been conned…
i find it hard to separate the good guys from the bad guys..
Is the internet really the best way to make money for low cost and time commitment?
steven
Hi Steven,
Thanks for being so open and honest – its great to hear from you.
I empathise with your situation as I’m sure many others will too. It’s so easy to get distracted, particularly on the internet but also in offline business too.
In terms of the good guys/bad guys something I’ve always found useful is to ask are people practising what their teaching? For example, some people out there will be selling a training course on Twitter but don’t really use Twitter themselves to make their own money.
Basically, find someone you trust, work out their model and copy it using your own style!
On the internet, I can only give you my opinion which is that I can’t think of another business that gives you such reach for so little investment. That’s why I chose it personally (alongside the all important lifestyle benefits that I mentioned before).
Don’t give up, don’t feel bad and push on. Just got to focus on ONE area and MAKE it work! 🙂
Best regards,
Rob.
hi Rob…
thankyou very much for your advice…
very honest and very fair..
steven
You’re very welcome Steven, nice to see you here at GHG!
– Rob.